Some account of the origin and objects of the new Oxford examinations for the title of Associate in Arts and certificates, for the year 1858 / by T.D. Acland ; also letters from J. Hullah [and others] and selected papers relating to the West of England examination.
- Acland, Sir Thomas Dyke, 1809-1898.
- Date:
- 1858
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Some account of the origin and objects of the new Oxford examinations for the title of Associate in Arts and certificates, for the year 1858 / by T.D. Acland ; also letters from J. Hullah [and others] and selected papers relating to the West of England examination. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
49/256 (page 21)
![required—to produce a certificate from some minister of religion in whom their parents placed confidence. To the reception of this certificate objections were expi'essed by many Churchmen ; and in the Oxford scheme provision is made for a single test of religious knowledge, with the option of simply declining it. It is thought that this arrangement will be even more satisfactory to Dissenters, while it relieves many clergymen from a scruple as to their obllsrations in reference to erroneous doctrine. It has been decided at Oxford to give no prizes or honours for religious know- ledge as a distinct subject. By some it is thought that competitive examinations on sacred subjects have a bad effect on the candi- dates ; by others that inconveniences might result if a certificate of first-class attainments in divinity from Oxford were turned to account for very different purposes from those for which it was intended. It has also been decided that knowledge on religious subjects shall not count towards distinction in the general list of honours; any other course would have been open'*to some suspicion as to its perfect fairness. These arrangements have been ado])ted, not in accordance with the wishes first expre'ssed by the teachers, but as a choice of difficulties. It cannot be too strongly impressed on public attention that it will rest with parents to require their children (assuming no conscientious scruple in the way) to give proof that they have not neglected the most important of all subjects. Although no public credit may be earned by a display of theological attainments, and no worldly loss may be incurred by the neglect of religious study, still it is important for candi- dates to bear in mind that their parents will be distinctly in- formed by the certificate whether they have or have not satisfied the examiners in an elementary religious examination. The primary responsibility for religious training therefore is cast, where it ought to rest, on the parents, and where we may trust that it will not be lightly regarded. Nor can it be doubted that the value of the certificate in after-life will be impaired by the omission of the religious examination in the case of those who are known to have had no conscientious reason for such omission. Distinction between Junior and Senior Candidates.— At Exeter no distinction was made between the candidates, as far as the questions were concerned ; but a difference was made as to the standard required in the answers ; and the event proved, as](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22440392_0051.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
